First Person: Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee
One of Hong Kong’s best-known and most controversial political figures, the former secretary for security Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee is back in politics with a newly formed group: the New People’s Party. With surprising emotion, she shares stories about her turbulent political past, including 2003’s Article 23 fiasco, with Emily Wu.
My mother was an actress. My father was a Singaporean citizen. My great-grandfather actually came from the same native village as “Yip Man” in Nanhai. He moved to Singapore because of poverty.
After the Korean War, my dad became poor. Because he did business with the PRC, the trade embargo hit him hard.
My mom and dad lived together during World War II. They were a de facto couple.
It was like a single-parent family, and my mother was pretty helpless. That’s why she always believed it’s important for women to be financially independent, to be educated and to be in control of your fate.
Being the oldest child, I always wanted to take care of my mother. So it was my priority to do well at school and at work.
She spent all her savings on my master’s degree education in Scotland.